Parable of the Good Shepherd

— John 10:1–21 — Andrew Fountain: Sept 15, 2013

“Flock of sheep”

Image source: Bible Places

John 10:1–21

  1. “I tell you the certain truth: the one who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber.
  2. The one who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3To him the doorkeeper opens.
     
    The sheep hear his voice and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
  3. When he has brought all his own sheep out, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they recognize his voice.
  4. A stranger they will never follow, but will run away from him, because they do not recognize the stranger’s voice.”
     
  5. Jesus told them this parable, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.
     
  6. So Jesus said to them again, “I tell you the certain truth:
    I am the door
  7. All who came before me were thieves and robbers,
  8. I am the door.
  9. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy;
    I have come so that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.
     
  10. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
  11. The hired hand, who is not a shepherd and does not own sheep, sees the wolf coming and abandons the sheep and runs away. So the wolf attacks the sheep and scatters them.
  12. The hired hand runs away because he is hired, and cares nothing for the sheep.
  13. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me (15just as the Father knows me and I know the Father) and I lay down my life for the sheep.
     
  14. I have other sheep that are not from this sheepfold. I must bring them too, and they will listen to my voice, so that there will be one flock and one shepherd.
     
  15. This is why the Father loves me
  16. No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down of my own free will.
    This commandment I received from my Father.”
     
  17. Another sharp division took place among the Jews because of these words.
  18. Many of them were saying, “He has a demon, and is insane; why listen to him?”
  19. Others said, “These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

Version: NET

“Small Fold”

Image source: Bible Places

“Michmash fold”

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“Michmash fold”

Image source: faithfutures.org

1. The True and False Shepherds

Ezekiel 34

  1. The word of the Lord came to me:
  2. Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them — to the shepherds: “This is what the sovereign Lord says: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves! Should not shepherds feed the flock?
  3. You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the choice animals, but you do not feed the sheep!
  4. You have not strengthened the weak, healed the sick, bandaged the injured, brought back the strays, or sought the lost, but with force and harshness you have ruled over them.
  5. They were scattered because they had no shepherd, and they became food for every wild beast.
  6. My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over the entire face of the earth with no one looking or searching for them.
  7. Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord:
  8. As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, my sheep have become prey and have become food for all the wild beasts. There was no shepherd, and my shepherds did not search for my flock, but fed themselves and did not feed my sheep,
  9. Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord:
  10. This is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I am against the shepherds, and I will demand my sheep from their hand. I will no longer let them be shepherds; the shepherds will not feed themselves anymore. I will rescue my sheep from their mouth, so that they will no longer be food for them.
  11. For this is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I myself will search for my sheep and seek them out.
  12. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his scattered sheep, so I will seek out my flock. I will rescue them from all the places where they have been scattered on a cloudy, dark day.
  13. I will bring them out from among the peoples and gather them from foreign countries; I will bring them to their own land. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the streams and all the inhabited places of the land.
  14. In a good pasture I will feed them; the mountain heights of Israel will be their pasture. There they will lie down in a lush pasture, and they will feed on rich grass on the mountains of Israel.
  15. I myself will feed my sheep and I myself will make them lie down, declares the sovereign Lord.
  16. I will seek the lost and bring back the strays; I will bandage the injured and strengthen the sick,
    but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them — with judgment!
  17. As for you, my sheep, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I am about to judge between one sheep and another, between rams and goats.
  18. Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, that you must trample the rest of your pastures with your feet? When you drink clean water, must you muddy the rest of the water by trampling it with your feet?
  19. As for my sheep, they must eat what you trampled with your feet, and drink what you have muddied with your feet!
  20. Therefore, this is what the sovereign Lord says to them: Look, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep.
  21. Because you push with your side and your shoulder, and thrust your horns at all the weak sheep until you scatter them abroad,
  22. I will save my sheep; they will no longer be prey. I will judge between one sheep and another.
  23. I will set one shepherd over them, and he will feed them — namely, my servant David. He will feed them and will be their shepherd.
  24. I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them; I, the Lord, have spoken!
    …
  25. And you, my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, are my people, and I am your God, declares the sovereign Lord.”

Version: NET

Three aspects:

  1. The True and False Shepherds
  2. The True Sheep (hear the voice)
  3. The Self-sacrifice of the Good Shepherd

2. The True Sheep

“On the boundless Eastern pasture…

…the shepherd is indispensable. With us sheep are often left to themselves. I do not remember to have seen in the East a flock without a shepherd. In such a landscape as Judea, where a day’s pasture is thinly scattered over an unfenced tract, covered with delusive paths, still frequented wild beasts, and rolling into the desert, the man and his character is indispensable.… Sometimes we enjoyed our noonday rest beside one of those Judean wells, to which three or four shepherds come down with their flocks. The flocks mixed with each other, and we wondered how each shepherd would get his own again. But after the watering and the playing were over, the shepherds one by one went up different sides of the valley, and each called out his peculiar call; and the sheep of each drew out of the crowd to their own shepherd and the flocks passed as orderly as they came”
(G. A. Smith, Historical Geography of the Holy Land, 25th ed. [London: Fontana] 210—11).

Timothy

Timothy

Image source: Andrew

“Ephesus Shepherd”

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“Dothan Shepherd”

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Mark 4

  1. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”
  2. And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you.
  3. For to the one who has, more will be given…

Hearing Jesus

  1. Practice listening to what he sounds like
  2. Make sure you are following the Shepherd in what he has already spoken
  3. Use what he has spoken as a starting point
  4. Be open to correction or redirection

Three aspects:

  1. The True and False Shepherds
  2. The True Sheep (hear the voice)
  3. The Self-sacrifice of the Good Shepherd

3. The Self-sacrifice of the Good Shepherd

Ezekiel 34

We have such a wonderfully good Shepherd!

Psalm 23

  1. A Psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
  2. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.
  3. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

Psalm 23 cont’d

  1. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
  2. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
  3. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Updated on 2013-09-16 by Andrew Fountain